His story, in his words ...
"Hit with the unmistakable smell of styrene
and through the haze of a freshly sanded longboard I met with Rob
Lion* to discuss my first custom board. Prior to this meeting I was
admittedly, totally ignorant to the world of surfcraft and in visiting
my board during the varying stages of it’s creation I was witness to
Rob’s willingness to experiment with concepts, shapes and materials. The
effect was instant and is why I almost immediately stripped the glass
off an old board, eager to break the convention to which I was
unconsciously adhering.
With more
enthusiasm than method I hacked away at the unceremoniously stripped
back surfboard. What ensued can only be described as a waste of what was
a perfectly usable board. I decided making boards was a stupid idea.
Despite
feeling disheartened at this failure I couldn’t quash my curiousity and
I began to read around surfcraft and it’s construction. With my freshly
gleaned knowledge I ordered my first real blank. This attempt
was relatively successful and I started to build experiment after
experiment, manifesting my on going research in tactile form.
As
I continued to experiment, other like-minded surfers began asking for
boards and soon I was receiving regular orders, refining my skills and
processes with every board. Five years on I began to question the
methods I was using, that smell of styrene and haze of sanding dust that
had initially sparked excitement and intrigue were now an inconvenience
to my adopted creative outlet.
Unhappy
with the dust, noise and chemicals I was exposing myself to I stopped
taking orders and began researching cleaner build methods. I had a fair
idea of where I wanted to take my work and I began a new period of
experimenting, focussed on a variation of the compsand method using
external timber veneers.
I found this
process to be much cleaner for myself, creating exponentially less dust,
noise and smell with no compromise on what I can build. The resulting
boards have a greater strength to weight ratio than those I used to
build using the accepted standard of polyurethane foam and polystyrene
resin.
Finally, limiting orders to 24 a
year allows me continue doing what has got me this far, and enjoy the
creative process. 24 is not a goal, it is a cut off point, a point at
which I believe if exceeded the pressures of meeting demand would impact
on the enjoyment I get and the quality of the boards I produce.
It is a privilege to explore the craft behind riding waves."
